President requests $154,465,000 for NEH in 2014

WASHINGTON (April 10, 2013) — President Barack Obama asked Congress today to provide $154,465,000 for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for fiscal year 2014.

The request, which represents an increase over the Endowment’s current appropriation, includes funds for the NEH’s ongoing Bridging Cultures initiative to enhance Americans’ understanding of the nation’s heritage as well as the cultural complexity of the contemporary world.

The President’s FY 2014 request includes:

$106,817,000 for the Endowment’s grant programs in support of excellent projects in the humanities, including $43,432,000 for the operations, projects, and programs of the 56 state and territorial councils;

$9,000,000 to support NEH’s special initiative —Bridging Cultures—which engages the power of the humanities to promote understanding and mutual respect for people with diverse histories, cultures, and perspectives within the United States and abroad;

$11,250,000 in federal matching funds, including funds for the NEH Challenge Grants program to help stimulate and match private donations in support of the humanities institutions and organizations;

and $27,398,000 for salaries and expenses needed to operate the agency

The National Endowment for the Humanities, one of the nation’s leading funders of humanities programs, awards competitive grants through a rigorous peer review process to the nation’s museums, archives, libraries, colleges and universities, public television and radio stations as well as to individual scholars and teachers. To spread the wisdom of the humanities as broadly as possible, NEH and its affiliated state councils support scholarly research, public programs, museum exhibitions, documentary films, programs for teachers, and the preservation of archives and other cultural resources.

The request will enable NEH to make a credible investment in a range of humanities activities that will yield both immediate and long term returns for the nation.